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Monthly Archives: January 2010

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Rock and Roll…Here we go!!!

January 31, 2010 – 2:34 am

Happy January 30th!!!! Today is a great day, because we have been able to select charities for our give away and we are ready to rock and roll. :) Without any unneccessary fluffing in this post…I’ll go ahead and list out the charities we drew! Heeeeeerrrrreeeee theeeeeeyyyyyy aaaaaarrrrreeeeee:

(in the order in which we drew the charity name and in which we will be donating)

(Jan) Mercy Health Center of Athens

(Feb) Meals from the Heartland

(Mar)International Justice Mission

(Apr)Thirst Relief

(May)Loren Smith Breast Cancer Center

(June) Mennonite Central Committee

(July) Safe Alone

(Aug)The Healing Place of Athens

(Sept)Project Adventure

(Oct) The Caribean Christian Center for the Deaf, Jamaica

(Nov)North East Ga. Cancer Care

(Dec)Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Research

There you have it folks…12 awesome charities that you may or may not be familiar with…but over the next 12 months you will get to know each one much better! Im about to put my first check in the envelope so we can send it out Monday morning and I encourage each of you to take some time to consider all of your blessings! We are so excited to know that over 2010 we are going to be able to play a small part in helping people who need it. Praise the Lord for all His blessings and I pray sincerely that our feeble attempt to help those in need erupts into something really HUGE for our readers and community and even more so for those who benefit from the charities we have selected. Its never to late to give friends and we hope that seeing these charities profiled on our blog encourages you to give too! I have already received emails from several of you that have said you will match our donations or give on top of our donations so…we’re counting on you doing that!!! All that being said, here is our first charity and how/where you can give too!

Mercy Health Center of Athens

(Click on the link above to donate!)

Mercy is actually a charity in Athens that is near and dear to Anthony and I. Tracy Thompson is the director there and I have known Tracy since I was in the 6th grade. She worked at my middle school and her sweet sweet daughter Lindsey and I were in youth group together. Tracy’s heart for those in need is incredible to watch and its more than evident in her actions that she really believes in what she does. Mercy Health Center of Athens is a non-profit center that provides health care for those who have no health insurance and cant get medicaid/medicare. Its all volunteer based and they offer an array of medical services for those that need it. Anthony is actually one of their volunteer pharmacist and I used to do spanish to english translating there prior to Riley coming around. :)  Doctors all over volunteer there and it takes lots of hands to run this clinic but I can tell you that many lives have been touched just by Mercy being open. We are really excited to give to them as our January charity…check out there link to see the ways you can help! They need more than just money…they need supplies…they need hands…they need prayers. So, here we go…let the donating begin and remember for those of you that donate too…we’ll send you some fun MPP stuff!

Have a great rest of your weekend everyone and we will see you next week!

By Melissa Pepin | Posted in Uncategorized, life | Comments (0)

Married: Meredith and Michael!!

January 29, 2010 – 4:52 pm

Last month we did the FABULOUS wedding of one of my best gals, Meredith. She and Mike got engaged the weekend Riley was born and shortly after that I KNEW I love me some Miguel when he held our sweet (then) 3 week old baby for the first time and looked like he was in love. This man is going to be a kick butt husband and an amazing daddy to all of the babies Im trying to convince Mer to have. And Mer ONLY deserves the best Mike so…dont let me down. :) hehehe No pressure… :)

Their wedding was so much fun and she was stunning. All of our fav AWP’ers helped make everything look incredible too. It was pretty much exactly like I would  redo our wedding so…without further ado, I will now vicariously live through Mer and Mike for the next 20 images. :)

Mer and Mike..we love you…we need you in our lives…we cant wait for you to make our kid a friend. :) And thanks for letting Riley have noodle parties at your apartment. And for letting him cry when you baby sit him. And for promising to not move far far away. :)

Everyone else, HAPPY FRIDAY! We will be slammed this weekend with work and prepping for the Athens Wedding Professionals Bridal Show this Sunday at the Ga. Center. Sunday, 12:30-6:30pm…come out and see how we’ve pimped out booth and check out all of the fabulous vendors we love so much in Athens!

AAAAAaaaannnnnndddddd! Last but not least…you have TWO days left ONLY to get in your charity nominations, because things get under way on Sunday and we cant wait to start giving money away!!! Now, on to the goods. :)


By Melissa Pepin | Posted in Wedding | Comments (0)

Open hands. Open hearts. Open Checkbook…

January 5, 2010 – 5:05 pm

Happy New Year everyone! It’s a little late for me to say that I know, but I figure its better late than never right? :)

I have been thinking a lot …a LOT…over the last few weeks about what 2009 entailed for Anthony and I. It was a life changing year for us for both our business and our family. Just to do a quick recap: We had a studio (out of our house) and it thrived…and then we closed it to bring things back into our home. God showed me that my work space needs to be where my heart is…and right now, at this point in my life, its at home. We worked with the mot amazing couples/families that we have ever had. We worked with the most amazing vendors we have ever had the opportunity to work with. We became regulars a our favorite coffee shop…it only took 7 years. :) We saw our friends have the most beautiful children. Our family grew and we had THE most beautiful child. ( :) hehehe) We put our house on the market. We sold our house. We bought our dream house. We move in next week…holy moly. We saw teens and adults receive Jesus as their savior. We saw our church change for the better. We saw love in a whole new way…a tangible, touchable way. We saw God be on time…like he ALWAYS is. We experienced a sense of family like never before. We were blessed beyond measure in 2009…and if 2010 is even half as good as this past year, Im already humbled and on my knees to praise God for His blessings.

Blessed is the only word I can come up with to describe this past year…and now to 2010. Anthony and I went to Target the day after Christmas to grab some diapers and we were both totally overwhelmed at how many people were out shopping! The first thing that popped into my mid was, “Seriously?! Only in America could we have a day of giving/receiving tons of gifts just to go out  the very next day to BUY MORE!?!!?” Please dont get me wrong..I love LOVE to shop…but I just feel like monetarily there are a few things I want to do better this year than buy more stuff. So…we are launching a blog contest of a different nature today. Here’s the deal…

For the next 12 months, we will be selecting 1 charity a month to donate $100 per month to as a way of saying, “Thank you God for giving so much to us!” Here is where YOU come in…we need charities to choose from! I have several that come to mind right off the bat…International Justice Mission…Mercy Clinic of Athens…the Red Cross…lots of places. But we want YOUR input. You have until January 30th to submit, via email to melissa@melissapepin.com , the names and donation information to your favorite charity. We will put them all in a hat and draw out 12 different charities to donate to. We will then feature each charity on our blog at the end of each month and give people the info so that THEY can click to donate right here on our blog. For every person that donates, we will send you some fun MPP paraphernalia (t-shirts, coffee cuffs, an autographed picture of ME…okay just kidding about the last one. :) ). We are super excited about the opportunity to help other this year rather than just focusing on driving up our blog hits or looking “kewl!” We want to touch hearts…to show Gods love…and to help as many people as possible. Love is the movement people so lets get to moving!

*side note, the charity has to be an actual charity..we wont be writing checks to individuals who cant make a car payment or who need bus fair…but we have places where those people can get help too, so if they need help we are HAPPY to send info for them!

We love you guys …you faithful readers. We love you guys that trust with with your families and weddings. We are so excited to see what Gods got in store this year and cant wait to take you all with us! So, happy new year and lets get those charities some cash!

By Melissa Pepin | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Playing catch up!

January 3, 2010 – 4:38 pm

Happy New Year!!! This little break that we’ve had has been A-MAZING! We have had a lot of time as a family these last few weeks and Im a little sad that its time to get back to the daily grind. :) I absolutely LOVE my job…its the only job I would ever give up being a stay at home mom for…its the only job that has ever made me feel whole. Being a photographer and having this business is one of the best decisions I have ever made. BUT…some times my family and home life gets set to the side so that I can work and love on all of our awesome clients. All that to say that it has been really great getting to love on my family these last few weeks! :)

I have fallen behind something feirce on blogging and I promise to remedy that right now! Here is a post with a whole bunch of pictures from the last several weeks…Im sparing you all of all the commercial shoots/headshots we have done and just getting to the fabulous families, babies, couples, & hot mamas we have been working with. Sooo…lets let the blog rollin get under way!

Meet Pam & James~ these two were awesome! They got married this summer and wanted to get some fun pictures around one of there favorite spots in Athens, Speak Easy.  Here are just a few pics from their session.

Here is the absolutely stunning Franchesca…just a little sneaky peaky… :)

Meet the Burt’s & the Hall’s! I used to work with Julie and Kristy in college at a music store downtown. Yes…the are identical twins. :) Julie and her husband have a sweet little girl named Joie. Kristy and her hubs just had twin girls. Sooo…needless to say there is a LOT of estrogen in this family! heheeh These familes are so sweet and are genuinely amazing people. These love the Lord with everything in them and are such a fantastic example of support and love within a family. I remember when we were all younger Julie, Kristy, and I all thought the idea of having kids was OUT OF THE QUESTION! None of us really wanted to be mommies and now…here we are…all with kids…and all happier in our lives than we could have ever imagined. God is good. :) Here are a few from their session.

I have a few more sessions that will be coming up on the blog this week so be on the look out for a preview of Meredith and Mike’s wedding AND pictures of sweet baby Selah. She’s brand new! :) In the mean time…here’s a little picture of chubby to complete this post. :) Have a great day!!!

By Melissa Pepin | Posted in Wedding, children, family portraits | Comments (0)